Message from Scientology
On 02/12/2008 Anonymous was contacted by a Scientologist. He began to post the following texts on 4chan, which was later recorded and posted here.
MESSAGE FROM SCIENTOLOGY BEGINS HERE:
Firstly, none of you have heard from me before and it is highly unlikely you will again anytime soon.
Make your own conclusions from that if you want but I’ll save you the trouble and simply say the reason is that I am either still “in”, I am gagged beyond all reason, or I simply cannot get involved for my own personal sanity. Any one of which is good reason enough. And if OSA (or whatever is left of it) ends up reading this please don’t bother trying to figure it out either, you never will so save yourself the trouble and keep up your good work as you are.
I'll say this however so you at least know where I’m coming from. The church as it stands today WILL eventually crumble from within. It is simply a matter of time. I have long since concerned myself with bigger issues in this world but I have been impressed with the Anonymous movement.
I am here to give them some advice in the hopes that it does truly accelerate the inevitable. If it does not, well so be it but it won’t be much longer in any event. David is doing a fine job of this on his own.
Some of you will no doubt debate this endlessly as to who I am, what are my motives, etc, but I urge you to not get distracted from the work you and your friends are doing and simply listen to what I have to say and, hopefully, use it to help you get where you are going a little quicker.
This is for Anonymous and those working with them. What you have started is nothing short of monumental I can assure you. It has caused and continues to cause utter chaos within the church. However please, please be warned that you have opened Pandora's Box and it will go one of two ways from here. You will have to get very, very organized to make sure it goes your way.
And if I may I would very much like you to heed my advice. Before I begin however there is a fair bit of this advice to give. If you don’t have the time or inclination to go through it all just go to my summary at the bottom. And if you don’t have the time for that then you absolutely MUST heed the advice of the more sensible critics out there ("the bearded one" and "magoo" spring to mind) for your sake as much as anyone else’s. And forget about all the stupid illegal stuff for God's sake. Any of that and frankly you deserve all of the wrath that David can muster.
If you’re still here then here goes...Your biggest strengths are not in fact your anonymity or your numbers. These are vital of course and they will keep you going despite the church's efforts to stop you but in actual fact your real strength lies in both your perspective and the information you have. These are also of course the church's weaknesses. They have zero perspective on the real world and they are incapable of stopping the truth from coming out. As I said above they will crumble from within for this exact reason.
But if you are to achieve your stated aims and accelerate the inevitable then it is how you go about getting this information out there and the way in which you do this which is utterly critical. Get it wrong and you will not only fail but you will rue the day you even thought about starting all this.
From what I can tell most of you are not opposed to people helping themselves with whatever works for them but like most intelligent people you have a serious problem with oppression and having anything forced upon you. Assuming this please keep a few things in mind. The majority of people who are introduced to Scientology bow out gracefully long before they get hooked and they continue on with their lives. They may be badgered incessantly for months and years after but they are not forced into anything. Many of those who stay and get hooked have genuinely been helped by Scientology in gaining whatever piece of mind that they needed. Some of them have gone on to do brilliant things and make a real difference in this world. Some of course get “hooked” in a very unhealthy way indeed but they know no better. The vast, vast majority of Scientologists are good people and they have committed no crimes. Of course they do not know the truth and if they did they would move on very quickly.
You must keep this in mind in all your activities. There are a very, very small number indeed who know the real deal behind the church. You need not concern yourself with sending them any messages. You can do all you want to try and rattle their cage but it will accomplish little. It is the followers that need enlightening. And they need to be enlightened COMPASSIONATELY, NOT aggressively. And remember everything you are doing is being watched by a lot of people. They fall into a few different categories and each one will digest your activities very differently.
I would say there are roughly four of these categories that you need to keep in mind. The first is the general public that have either never heard of Scientology or have heard of it and generally dismiss it. The second are those that have heard of it and are curious and/or know something about it and don’t generally see any problem with it. The third is of course the Scientologists themselves. And the fourth would be the critics.
General Public
The biggest by far is the general public. For them it is nothing more than another strange story about Scientology and though they may be mildly fascinated they’ll probably forget about it soon enough. However this is where your plans could back fire the most.
YOU MUST NOT ALIENATE THE GENERAL PUBLIC!
Live and let live is a fairly common attitude in today’s civilized society. If your actions are seen to be aggressive, too weird or unpalatable in any way this will start to work against you. They will simply sympathize with Scientology and in time potentially become curious enough to check it out for themselves.
Unless I am mistaken you are doing this to put an end to the abuse that has been occurring for years so please focus on that. Make sure your message is succinct, honest and above all simple. This will allow it to be digested much more easily by those who aren’t bothered either way and re-focus their attention to what is WRONG with Scientology as opposed to just being reminded that it still exists.
Jenna Miscavige's story is a very good example of a simple, digestible and succinct story that is very hard to refute. Those who watched the inside edition broadcast simply cannot come away with a positive view of the church. In contrast the whole Xenu thing is, in my opinion, one of the least effective points to make. It simply isn’t believable. It may keep the average intelligent person away which I suppose isn’t a bad thing but that is not why you are doing all that you are.
Scientology's best customers (the ones that stay in and spend loads of money) are people searching for answers and they will no doubt have read stranger things in their quest. Xenu is just another “out there” concept easily associated with countless other ideas. At best it is funny. At worst it will make you look stupid and you will lose credibility. Again you must focus on your objective and when preparing any action (YouTube, protests, interviews, etc) do all you can to ensure you maintain the general public's approval.
The Curious
Onto the second; those that are curious and don’t really see anything wrong with Scientology. Much of the above applies but you risk simply reminding them about Scientology and in turn sending them in the wrong direction. If you get your message across correctly the majority of them will walk away from Scientology. Some may even be tempted to learn more about your side of the story. This is where you absolutely must get it right. And I am very sorry to say this but you are currently getting it very, very wrong.
When I first started looking on line to see what the critics were saying it took me hours to find something coherent. It took me days more to find tangible stories that I could actually digest and understand. The vast majority of what I saw was just ramblings from critics and lots of chats between those who have seen what is really behind the wizard’s curtain. I’m not knocking this of course but unless you’re a sadomasochist it takes a lot of will power to trawl through it all. Your averagely curious person simply isn’t going to do this. As such the truth will not be discovered and you will simply have caused a bit of a fuss for the church.
However, imagine this for a second..I am one of those mildly curious people and I watch some news story about the church and anonymous. There isn’t much on TV tonight anyways so I decide to check it out on line. I type in Scientology, Miscavige, Anonymous, Hubbard, etc, etc and the first thing that comes up is a very professional looking and simple site saying "your questions answered about Scientology". On the site I see a list of topics. Not loads of links, like there is on clambake, lermanet or even Scientology sites for that matter, just a few or at the most ten. I click on the one that says "a brief history of Scientology" after a five minute read I get the basic picture. Then I click on the "who is Hubbard" link. Again a few minutes read and I get the idea. Now I’m curious and my eyes are not square from trawling through loads of crap so I look at the rest of the links. Some suggestions would be;
“Who runs the church?” “Where does the money go?” “How many Scientologists are there?” “How many have left Scientology?” “Examples of abuse within the church” “Examples of contradictions and hypocrisy” etc, etc.
If this is professionally presented, kept simple and is easily digestible I should walk away with a clear picture of the real goings on very quickly. There are enough of you out there to provide the details on all this and back it up with evidence. But the key is to make it simple, easily digestible and state nothing but facts. If you can’t get someone to look at all of the most important and pertinent information within an hour at the very most, well then you will have lost them. They will simply go back to watching friends reruns and forget about it.
Scientology isn’t exactly the biggest problem in their lives or anyone else’s for that matter. It is a big problem for those who have been abused by them but in the grand scheme of things there are bigger issues to spend time researching for anyone leading a normal life. As an example; why would I be concerned about Lisa McPherson’s death at the hands of Scientology when there are thousands being exterminated right now by oppressive regimes all over the world? Iraq anyone? Darfur? Zimbabwe? Etc, etc. Most people are charitable at home first and then if they are so inclined move onto bigger issues like global warming, standing up to Bush, China's human rights abuses, etc. By the way I mean absolutely no disrespect to Lisa or her family. It is an abominable tragedy that was entirely preventable and I am personally utterly disgusted with the church’s actions regarding the whole mess, as any human would be. I’m simply trying to make the point that you have to keep what you are doing in perspective with what the rest of the world thinks. Otherwise you will not be successful.
Perspective is of course one of the things that will ensure the church never succeeds as many of you know. They simply cannot fit their warped world into the real one and though it seems they are trying to of late, with your efforts it will simply be to too little to late. I just don’t want you to make the same mistake as them.
So again, make sure your message is digestible, truthful and simple. Just assume the point of view of those that are curious and make sure whatever you are doing leads them to the truth.
The Scientologists
Okay, onto the third group, the Scientologists. Actually this falls into two groups, the Scientologists and the sea org/staff members but essentially the same applies for both. Two things will happen with the vast majority of Scientologists, staff and SO members. They will either be blindly galvanized and doggedly fight and react to all this “entheta” or they will start to ask questions.
Those that see red and “go to guns” as it were will of course follow “managements” direction which, I can assure you, is far from figured as yet. They simply do not know how to deal with this. Many of you have noticed the change in tact recently and wondered what is going on. Well the truth is they simply don’t have any “references” to deal with this. There is no target and they are lost without that. Take magoo's advice on that one. Create a group and you will be targeted. Stay anonymous and they can do nothing but watch. The other reaction will be one of questioning. Why are there so many people against us? Could it be my doubts have been right all along? It is these guys you need to cater for.
For those in Anonymous who were once “in” you know what I’m talking about. It is the questions you couldn’t answer that ultimately lead to you getting the hell out of dodge. So you must cater to those questions effectively. You can do this with leaflets, a website or any other means of media distribution but, as above, the information has to be simple, succinct and digestible.
So far you just haven’t streamlined it enough, there is too much frivolous information that waters down what they really need to know. Case in point is the Xenu stuff. This just creates the wrong reaction. It doesn’t make them think. It simply makes them react. My suggestion would be to create that simple, honest and succinct website with all those questions scientologists, staff and SO members have inevitably asked themselves over the years.
“What really happened when LRH died?” “It’s been 21 years, why has he not come back if the planet is not yet cleared?” “What really happens at Int?” “Where is Heber?” etc, etc.
Again you have all the info you need already. Just work with the critics closely and get a good writer to simplify it and make it digestible. The whole “musical chairs” story at Int is a good example but it comes across as being an elaborate rant. I know it’s true and so do must have you but this will be interpreted as lies by someone still under the influence. Retold compassionately, without prejudice or embellishment and kept utterly simple this could very easily end up on the news. Just imagine that for a second!
So again, you must direct the interest you generate so that it leads them to the answers they have never been given. This absolutely has to be simplified so that it is inevitable for anyone who starts looking to find out what is really going on. It also has to be compassionate. Remember these are the guys who are being abused as you read this. They know no better. You can change that.
Obviously this is like Christmas to you guys. But be warned, get too giddy about all this and it will back fire on you too.
This bit is really addressed to the critics themselves but you both need to work together and as such it applies to you both. Now is the time to start being civilized and not jump up and down about the fall of Scientology. Scientology will never fall. The church as it is now may, David Miscavige may, but Scientology will never go away. Jim Logan's analogy was spot on. You can take away the car but you will never take away the idea of motorized transport. Freezone anyone? What you are on the brink of doing is getting more people to know the truth behind the church than those who believe their lies. This should result in a major change within the church, hopefully resulting in the abuses stopping and whatever good exists (if there really is any to be had) continuing.
If you haven’t read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell I thoroughly recommend it. You are very, very close to this, BUT YOU ARE NOT THERE YET! If you really, really care about everything that has happened to you and those you love who have been through the ringer at the hands of the church then now is the time to get smart. And I mean really, really smart.
I’m going to be a bit cruel here I’m afraid to prove my point. No doubt Arnie will read this at some point and may I just say that I hold absolutely no grudge against you personally. Far from it in fact, I have a great deal of respect for you and in time you will be rewarded in ways you never imagined but at this point I’m sorry to say I have to use you as an example. Watching Arnie being interviewed makes me cringe. He comes across as a very disturbed individual indeed. He is not I know and he has been through hell for which I am truly sorry. If the truth be told I actually think he is just incredibly scared of what will happen to him after the interview or at least he is just very nervous. But this is the age of image and we come to judgment far, far too quickly. This means the message is lost before he even starts talking.
Conversely Jenna Miscavige has done more for your cause than anyone in recent history. Why? Though she is David’s niece that actually has little to do with it (though of course that is the main reason she was interviewed so maybe that isn’t quite true, however it is how effective she was with her point about Scientology that I am referring to). In contrast to Arnie she is instantly likable. She is relaxed, she is sincere and she is, as far as everyone watching is concerned, a normal person they can instantly relate to. You cannot help but take every word in. This has to do with humanity’s deepest primal instincts regarding attraction and interaction. When you see someone you like the look of and are on some very basic level attracted to (NOT sexually), you listen to what they have to say with a sympathetic ear, otherwise known as empathy. Again, read the tipping point book. I don’t want to get into this too deep but the point is that likability goes a long, long way to getting one to agree with a particular point of view. George Bush and Tony Blair are very good examples.
So… what to do? Hire a bunch of really good looking and highly skilled actors to front for you in interviews? No, of course not. You just need to assume the point of view of the general public and ask yourself would this person come across as being likable, sincere and believable. Mr. Bunker springs to mind but there are many others. Don’t obsess on this ether. Just heed my basic point. Whoever we see talking about the church will be judged almost instantly on their image and after that their sincerity and likability so chose those that speak out within the media well. As I said Mr. Bunker ticks a lot of boxes but there are others.
I would also seriously discourage you from doing “mystery” interviews. They work well for under cover police officers and the like as we can all relate to why they can’t show their identity but “Joe public” does not understand the lengths the church will go to destroy someone who speaks out. They just instantly think “what are they hiding”? It’s tricky I know but make use of those who are willing to speak out whilst heeding the guide lines above and you will have much, much more impact I promise you.
The other thing I would seriously discourage you from is celebrity bashing. I know it is fun but most of these guys are genuinely liked by millions of people. They enjoy their movies, their TV shows and the like. Personally I have little time for Tom Cruise or Jenna Elfman and many others. But the vast, vast majority of people across the world still love these guys. Your bashing them really doesn’t help. I’m sorry but it’s the truth. I know you’ll struggle with this one but just leave them be. They are NOT the problem. And when you do have a go at them YOU look bad, not them. They are doing a pretty good job of making themselves look bad so just let them get on with it. You also must listen to the critic’s advice when they give it. Some of them are understandably angry as they feel you are undermining their work and some of them are getting very excited in the hopes you will help them in ways they never thought possible. Listen to them all. They have been fighting this fight for a long time now and they will save you from wasting your time and efforts. If you don’t heed their advice, and I refer in particular to the more balanced ones such as “the beard” and “magoo”, you will almost certainly fail. In fact I can guarantee it. Not only that you will regret the day you even bothered to start this whole movement. They know how determined David is. You don’t. Listen to them and listen to them well. Well that’s it really. Hopefully that is of some help. I’ll cover the points below in summary for those without the time to go through all the above.
Summary
Your strengths are not your anonymity or your numbers (though they will help a lot!) but rather your perspective and the information you have. But it is how you get this information across that is utterly critical.
You have four different "markets" that will be digesting and reacting to your activities. The "general public" who aren’t really bothered, the "curious about Scientology" who may or may not get involved depending on what they hear, the Scientologists themselves and of course the critics. The interest you generate from all of your activities will be wasted if it is not directed effectively to the truth about what is going on in the church. At present it is almost impossible to gain any succinct insight into all this unless you are a tireless reporter or similar and are willing to trawl through loads of random info on the internet for hours and hours on end and try to piece it all together.
My suggestion to you is streamline your message throughout all your activities. Make sure these messages are digestible to the layman (Xenu is just to wacky and makes you look as silly as they are) and present information and stories they can relate to (Jenna Miscavige’s story is a perfect example) so that the general public instantly get put off, the “curious” are led to your info and not the church’s and the Scientologists, staff and SO members who can’t help but ask questions get the answers they need to get the hell out of there.
You need to create a really, really simple campaign (website, flyers, etc) that state the facts. There is no one source of information out there yet. Clambake, lermanet and even the church’s own sites are just too convoluted to trawl through. Even the recent “Scientology disconnection” site isn’t good enough. YOU MUST FOCUS THIS INFORMATION TO THE MINIMUM REQUIRED!
Lastly you must, must, must heed the advice of the critics who have been fighting this fight for years now. In particular I refer to “the bearded one” and “magoo”. They know what they are talking about and you risk wasting your time or worse, hindering their valiant efforts if you do not.
You have all the info and proof you need to achieve your stated aims but if things aren’t organized you will inevitably have created nothing more than a big distraction with little lasting effect. Get it right and you will have well and truly started the end of the church of Scientology as it is known today.
Again, simplify your message. Make it easily digestible. Keep it civilized and compassionate. And make sure you direct those whose attention you have to the information they need to walk away from the nightmare. I wish you all the best in your respective journeys.
Good luck and godspeed!
tl;dr Version
Dear /b/,
We have the dox, we just need to get the bare minimum out there. Sometimes going OVER 9,000 can put off those wanting to learn about what we have to spread, while telling simple things like what the church does to its victims and those that try to GTFO are told to DO A BARREL ROLL back into the cult will get many John Q. Public interests piqued. Stop getting JQP to put sage in the e-mail field when we go OVER 9,000 and get the bare minimum out. Granted, this is going to be tough for Anonymous, as we usually like to put CRUISE CONTROL on and let the full force speak for itself, but doing that will result in Anti-lulz and have many people abandon the cause, or worse, start looking to the Scifag and ask them why we're acting like this.
tl;dr: Post the dox, bare minimum, keep Pedobear in your pants and wait until the afterpartyvan to start spouting IDIFTL.
